Sights in Regency England - Old Sarum

I know that Old Sarum is not of the Regency era (just in case you were wondering), but it was a sight to be observed during the period.

I have visited the ancient city Salisbury, but never Old Sarum. Orginally a hill fort, then a roman military camp, a principle saxon town, then a Norman castle and later a cathedral it was notorious in Regency times.

By the nineteenth century the village was uninhabited yet still entitled to a member of Parliament, and therefore was the most notorious rotten borough of the period.

The picture is by Constable in 1829, so this is what it would have looked like to a Regency traveler.
This next picture is from 1845 by Charles Knight.
This picture was taken by me, showing some of the excavations undertaken to expose the remains of the walls from the castle that once stood on this site. Of interest is the fact that much of what are called "walls" are in fact the core of the walls, the dress stones having been taken away over the centuries and used for other purposes. The other thing is of course the green green grass.

The last picture and I took many, but basically they are more lumps of stone which don't mean much to anyone but me, is a view north from the top of the hill. It was lovely to look out over the English countryside and feel alone with nature.



So when you are thinking about what people would see during our days of old, don't forget there were these old monuments -- not always excavated, but many known about. They can make an interesting back drop to a story.